Henrietta Hay's Column

At long last I have a blue ribbon to mark the page in the Colorado University "C" Club directory that has my name on it. But the ribbon will hang for a while on the living room wall. It is more social than spectacular, but it brought back a lot of good memories and I'm very proud of it.

The annual Riverfront Run/Walk was held recently. This was the fourth year for the event, but my first one, and I had no idea what I was getting into. I got involved quite innocently. A friend asked me if I would like to walk in it. I had visions of a leisurely stroll along the beautiful trail, so I naively said, "Sure," and sent in my five bucks. Little did I know?

This thing is highly competitive! I mean people are walking and running to WIN. The event began and ended in Riverside Park. There were balloons and music and people - lots of people. Many were obviously athletes, experienced runners in top physical condition. But there were a lot of others, too. There were men and women with white hair and babies with no hair, and all sorts of people in between. Some of the babies were in those front packs that look like kangaroo pouches and added some wiggly weight to the parent-runners who were wearing them. Other short people were riding in the new lightweight running carts that joggers push. I had not realized how early jogging starts in the modern world. I am somewhat inclined to think that the babies had the best of it that morning and they seemed to agree. Most of them looked pretty happy about the whole thing.

Everybody who had registered was given a nametag, which included her/his age in big bold numbers. This seemed a little presumptuous to me, but newcomers don't ask questions and anyway my age is scarcely a secret. As it turned out, people compete in age classes, which is a very good thing.

There were a several choices in this event. Serious athletes ran or walked the 10 K route or chose to run two miles. The rest of us walked two miles. Needless to say, my event was the two-mile walk.

We were taken to the starting point by school bus. I quickly developed a lot of sympathy for kids who ride in those things but we were quite decorous and the driver complimented us on being much better behaved than her usual passengers.

Before the starting gun it was very much a social affair, with most people knowing nearly everyone else. I learned that walkers are a gregarious bunch, friendly, warm - and healthy. But when the local policeman drove up and shot a real gun in the air, they became a lot more intense.

I know the Audubon Trail is quite beautiful, because I have walked it a number of times. But that morning there could have been elephants lurking in the underbrush and I would not have noticed them. I was not looking at the scenery.

I won the blue ribbon for being first in my age group, which, I might add, is the highest age group in the race. In all honesty, I must confess that the reason I won it had to do with both age and pride. I was walking with two much younger women who were not wasting much time and kept saying, "Let's pass these people. They're in the way." I was much too proud to, puff puff, say, puff puff, "Let's slow down a bit," puff puff, or to drop back on my own. So I won in the little old ladies (in sneakers) class! My companions, of course, had to go without ribbons, probably because I was holding them back. Maybe that's the secret of aging. Walk with the young. For the record, the youngest contestant was five months old.

I don't want to brag, but I won a free dinner, too, for being the "Veteran Walker." I asked them what that meant, and they hemmed and hawed a little and admitted it was a euphemism for Oldest Walker. I said it was a great day and I'd be back next year, and I sure hope some 92 year old doesn't cut in ahead of me.